sonicandfffan
Warlord
THE RESULTS
Votes so far: 35 votes (wow)
5.47 - Piety (Ancient Era)
5.00 - Piety Opener: Halves time to build shrines and temples, unlocks building the Great Mosque of Djenne.
6.40 - Organized Religion: +1 Faith from Shrines and Temples.
5.71 - Mandate of Heaven: 20% discount on all purchases of religious units and buildings with Faith.
4.57 - Theocracy (requires Organized Religion, part leads to Reformation): Temples increase a city's Gold output by 10%. Holy Sites provide +3 Gold.
3.14 - Religious Tolerance (requires Organized Religion, part leads to Reformation): Cities with a majority religion also get the Pantheon belief bonus of the second most popular religion.
7.83 - Reformation (requires Mandate of Heaven and Religious Tolerance): If you founded a religion, gain a bonus Reformation belief.
5.63 - Piety Finisher: Causes a Great Prophet to appear and Holy Sites provide +3 culture.
6.00 - Patronage (Classical Era):
7.26 - Patronage Opener: Cause Influence with City-States to degrade 25% slower than normal. Unlocks the Forbidden Palace.
6.40 - Philanthropy (leads to Scholasticism): Gifts of Gold to a City-State generate 25% more Influence.
7.46 - Consulates: Resting point for Influence with all City-States is increased by 20.
6.34 - Scholasticism (requires Philanthropy, leads to Cultural Diplomacy, part leads to Merchant Confederacy): All City-States which are Allies provide a Science bonus equal to 25% of what they produce for themselves.
6.74 - Cultural Diplomacy (requires Scholasticism): Quantity of Resources gifted by City-States increased by 100%. Happiness from gifted Luxuries increased by 50%.
1.80 - Merchant Confederacy (requires Scholasticism and Consulates): +1 Gold for trade routes with City-States.
6.00 - Patronage Finisher: Allied City-States will occasionally gift you Great People
5.91 - Aesthetics (Classical Era)
6.37 - Aesthetics Opener: Earn Great Writers, Artists and Musicians 25% faster. Unlocks the Uffizi.
5.57 - Cultural Centers (part leads to Flourishing of the Arts): Construct Monuments, Amphitheaters, Opera Houses, Museums and Broadcast Towers 50% faster.
4.11 - Fine Arts (leads to Artistic Genius, part leads to Flourishing of the Arts): 50% excess Happiness added each turn to the amount of Culture that may be spent on Social Policies.
5.26 - Artistic Genius (Requires Fine Arts): A Great Artist appears.
7.57 - Flourishing of the Arts (requires Cultural Centers and Fine Arts) : Culture increased by 33% in all cities which have built a World Wonder and the empire immediately enters a Golden Age.
4.60 - Ethics (Requires Flourishing of the Arts): Reduces the Culture cost of future Policies by 10%.
7.91 - Aesthetics Finisher: Doubles the theming bonus you receive from your Museums and Wonders. Can purchase Great Writers, Artists, or Musicians with Faith from the Industrial Era.
New topic: Rate the Social Policies Part III: Commerce/Exploration/Rationalism
Thanks to everyone who voted for Tradition/Liberty/Honor. Now we move on to Piety/Patronage/Aesthetics.
Credit to kaspergm for the format from his rate the beliefs topics. We've done beliefs and wonders, now we move on to social policies. Adding a numerical value to things helps new players (and experienced players) decide how to prioritise their game and I think doing this for several aspects of the gameplay will provide useful resources for this forum.
I'd ask you to put your vote before the name of each belief, like this:
5 - Tradition Opener: Increases rate of border expansion, +3 culture in capital, unlocks Hanging Gardens.
As with the wonders, the voting range is from 0 to 10 where 5 is average. Give votes between 0 and 10, where 0 is worst and 10 is best, like this:
10 = Pretty much required for any game
9 = Excellent
8 = Extremely good
7 = Very good
6 = Above par
5 = Average
4 = Below par
3 = Poor
2 = Very Poor
1 = Worse than useless
0 = Never take ever.
When voting, take into account both the strength of the policy, its prerequisites, the policies it unlocks and how situational it is in its applicability. To give an example of this, a policy like citizenship might not be the best by itself, but the fact it unlocks two useful policies should factor into your score. Also of course, how well it suites your playing style or personal likes or dislikes also should influence your vote. Also keep in mind that something useful for a domination victory might not be as useful for a cultural victory. How you weight the different things is subjective obviously. I'll try to make some statistics when people have put in some votes to see how things distribute. Here are the list of social policies:
Piety (Ancient Era)
_ - Piety Opener: Halves time to build shrines and temples, unlocks building the Great Mosque of Djenne.
_ - Organized Religion: +1 Faith from Shrines and Temples.
_ - Mandate of Heaven: 20% discount on all purchases of religious units and buildings with Faith.
_ - Theocracy (requires Organized Religion, part leads to Reformation): Temples increase a city's Gold output by 10%. Holy Sites provide +3 Gold.
_ - Religious Tolerance (requires Organized Religion, part leads to Reformation): Cities with a majority religion also get the Pantheon belief bonus of the second most popular religion.
_ - Reformation (requires Mandate of Heaven and Religious Tolerance): If you founded a religion, gain a bonus Reformation belief.
_ - Piety Finisher: Causes a Great Prophet to appear and Holy Sites provide +3 culture.
Patronage (Classical Era):
_ - Patronage Opener: Cause Influence with City-States to degrade 25% slower than normal. Unlocks the Forbidden Palace.
_ - Philanthropy (leads to Scholasticism): Gifts of Gold to a City-State generate 25% more Influence.
_ - Consulates: Resting point for Influence with all City-States is increased by 20.
_ - Scholasticism (requires Philanthropy, leads to Cultural Diplomacy, part leads to Merchant Confederacy): All City-States which are Allies provide a Science bonus equal to 25% of what they produce for themselves.
_ - Cultural Diplomacy (requires Scholasticism): Quantity of Resources gifted by City-States increased by 100%. Happiness from gifted Luxuries increased by 50%.
_ - Merchant Confederacy (requires Scholasticism and Consulates): +1 Gold for trade routes with City-States.
_ - Patronage Finisher: Allied City-States will occasionally gift you Great People
Aesthetics (Classical Era)
_ - Aesthetics Opener: Earn Great Writers, Artists and Musicians 25% faster. Unlocks the Uffizi.
_ - Cultural Centers (part leads to Flourishing of the Arts): Construct Monuments, Amphitheaters, Opera Houses, Museums and Broadcast Towers 50% faster.
_ - Fine Arts (leads to Artistic Genius, part leads to Flourishing of the Arts): 50% excess Happiness added each turn to the amount of Culture that may be spent on Social Policies.
_ - Artistic Genius (Requires Fine Arts): A Great Artist appears.
_ - Flourishing of the Arts (requires Cultural Centers and Fine Arts) : Culture increased by 33% in all cities which have built a World Wonder and the empire immediately enters a Golden Age.
_ - Ethics (Requires Flourishing of the Arts): Reduces the Culture cost of future Policies by 10%.
_ - Aesthetics Finisher: Doubles the theming bonus you receive from your Museums and Wonders. Can purchase Great Writers, Artists, or Musicians with Faith from the Industrial Era.